Most Americans are SO broke they can’t even put away a hundred bucks

(National Sentinel) Personal Finances: Without question, President Donald J. Trump and the Republican-led Congress have a lot of work to do to restore the U.S. economy after it was ravaged by former President Barack Obama and Democratic policies.

Things are so bad, in fact, that a majority of us are now living literally from paycheck to paycheck — meaning any interruption of our income stream would put scores of Americans in dire financial straits.

Seventy-eight percent of full-time workers said they live paycheck to paycheck, up from 75 percent last year, according to a recent report from CareerBuilder.

Overall, 71 percent of all U.S. workers said they’re now in debt, up from 68 percent a year ago, CareerBuilder said.

What’s more, under half of those surveyed — 46 percent — said their debt was “manageable,” leaving fully 54 percent who admitted they were in over their heads.

And it’s not getting any better for these folks, either. CareerBuilder found that more than half — 56 percent — said they could only put away $100 or less each month.

The employment website said it surveyed more than 2,000 hiring and human resource manager and more than 3,000 full-time workers between May and June to obtain the results.

Meanwhile, CBS Newsreported similar findings: Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed said they have to live paycheck to paycheck:

With unemployment in the U.S. at its lowest level in 16 years, experts are prone to talk about the economy as if it has fully recovered from the housing crash. But other measures of how Americans are doing reveal a darker picture.

“Living paycheck to paycheck is the new way of life for U.S. workers,” said Mike Erwin, a spokesman for CareerBuilder, in an interview with CBS News. “It’s not just one salary range. It’s pretty much across the board, and it’s trending in the wrong direction.”

Believe it or not, this is a prepper issue. Household debt coupled with an inability to sock away cash hurts your ability to stock up and prepare for emergencies. Financial experts advise that you should have six months in savings socked away in case you lose your job or otherwise cannot work for a while. Most Americans don’t even come close to that; can you imagine the social chaos if a major economic event caused massive job losses?